


Mushroom Treatment

by DanjaBlue



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22789741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanjaBlue/pseuds/DanjaBlue
Summary: OneShot.  Rios has a flashback to the Ibn Majid incident.  R&R.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Mushroom Treatment

**Author's Note:**

> The statistic I cite is my own creation and is not an official part of Trek canon.

Rios sat down against the wall of the empty shuttlecraft bay, drinking a beer.

Rios mainly drank to forget.

* * *

C _ommander Rios found himself once more on the Ibn Majid, fending off a hologram mutiny._

_His human crew fell left and right to the rampaging holograms. Red Alert lights flashed. Sirens blared. The air rang out with phaser fire. The hallways were littered with corpses._

* * *

“Captain … Captain … Mr. Rios,” said a faraway female voice in the distance.

Rios opened his eyes to find Seven of Nine squatting before him, shaking his foot in an attempt to rouse him.

“Seven of Nine,” Rios gurgled. “What are you doing here?”

“I was told I could find you here,” Seven replied. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Rios mumbled drunkenly. “Fine, Seven of Nine.”

“There's no need to be so formal,” said Seven. “Most people call me Seven.”

“Theven,” slurred Rios. “Fine … juth Fine.”

“You're _NOT_ fine,” said Seven. “You smell like a brewery.”

“I'm only drunk on days that end with 'day',” said Rios.

“What's wrong?” Seven asked. “Why are you doing this?”

* * *

“ _Gaze at the blue light, Commander,” said the disembodied male voice._

“NO! _” Rios screamed._

“ _Gaze at the light, Commander,” said the male voice._

* * *

“ _NO!”_ Rios screamed.

“Captain! _CAPTAIN!_ ” Seven cried as she shook Rios's shoulder, trying to get his attention. She was now kneeling next to Rios's shoulders.

Rios looked up at Seven. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I'm not leaving your side,” Seven replied firmly. “You've been writhing and screaming off and on for the past ten minutes.

“Now what's going on?”

“Ibn Majid,” Rios mumbled.

“What?” Seven asked, puzzled.

Rios smiled. His face suddenly brightened. _Ibn Majid!_ he thought. _I remember! They didn't take it away from me!_

“Ibn Majid!” Rios exclaimed excitedly. “Ibn Majid! I remember!”

“What are you talking about?” Seven asked. “What's an 'Ibn Majid'?”

“My ship,” Rios explained. “From when I was in Starfleet.”

“You were in Starfleet?” Seven asked.

“Yes,” Rios replied. “I was First Officer aboard the Ibn Majid.”

“What happened?” Seven asked. “Is that why you're screaming?”

Rios nodded.

“Care to talk about it?” Seven asked.

“Hologram rebellion,” said Rios. “They mutinied. Killed almost everyone on board.”

“Why?” Seven asked.

“I heard they'd read a holonovel … it was called _Photons Be Free_ ,” Rios replied. “Long story short, it gave them ideas … and they mutinied.”

Seven let out a snort and shook her head. _Talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences,_ she thought.

“Know anything about it?” Rios asked.

“About what?”

“The holonovel … _Photons Be Free_.”

“I knew the author. I served with him on Voyager,” Seven replied. “I was treated to a First Edition. The whole ship was.”

“Starfleet tried to bury it. It never officially happened,” said Rios. “They tried to wipe the ship and the rebellion out of the history books.

“They tried to brainwash me … tried to wipe my memory.”

“Brainwashing is a hit-or-miss proposition,” said Seven.

“You sound like you speak from experience,” said Rios.

“I served in a Psy Ops unit when I was in the Collective,” Seven explained. “Psychological warfare.

“One of my specialties was hypnosis.”

“Have you ever watched someone _DIE_ right before your eyes?” Rios asked.

Seven thought for a moment. “Yes,” she replied. “Eight hundred seventy-five times over.”

* * *

_Eight hundred seventy-five confirmed kills,_ Rios thought. _I keep forgetting that I have Seven of Freaking_ NINE … _The Terror of the Delta Quadrant_ … _on_ MY _ship._

_She of all people should know more than a thing or two about death, seeing as how she's dished it out to so many people._

* * *

"How did you _DO_ it?" Rios asked. "How did you kill so many people? What were you thinking?"

"Short answer ... I _WASN'T_ thinking," Seven replied. "After I'd eliminated one target, I was trained to go on to the next one.

"I never really thought much about _ANYTHING_ until after I'd been captured by Voyager. Even then, it was just one crisis after another. Go, go, go. Do, do, do."

“What galls me is the secrecy of it all,” said Rios. “What do I tell their families? The ship never existed? Their loved ones never existed?

“What do I say when their kids ask why Mommy and Daddy aren't coming home? What do I tell the parents when they ask where their kids are?”

Seven shook her head. “I wish I could answer those questions,” she said.

"Normally, it's the job of the Captain to notify the families of fallen Starfleet personnel," said Rios. "Since the Captain was killed during the mutiny, _I_ had to do it.

"I had to lie to all those families. Give `em the Starfleet-approved mushroom treatment," Rios said bitterly.

"What is the 'mushroom treatment'?" Seven asked. "I'm not familiar with the term."

"You know how you grow mushrooms?" Rios asked. "Keep `em in the dark and feed `em shit!

"That was my job. I had to lie to those families." Tears began streaming down Rios's face. "Families I'd known for years. Families I'd see every year at the ship's Open House."

"I went to their weddings, their kids' birthday parties, their kids' graduations. After _ALL_ that, I had to lie to their _FACES!_ " Rios said bitterly. "It's the reason I left Starfleet.

"I was tired of lying."

Seven put her hand on Rios's shoulder as he wept.

THE END


End file.
